Make UK backs initiative to help manufacturers retain young talent

As official training provider partner, Make UK will help promote and develop the Engineering Apprenticeships: Best Practice Programme – an initiative designed to support firms to overcome skills challenges and build talent for future success.

The programme equips manufacturers with the tools they need to better plan for, attract and retain apprentices. It provides a host of best practice resources and peer-to-peer discussion forums to enable engineering and manufacturing firms of all sizes to replicate proven methods adopted by others that have successfully run apprenticeship schemes for some time.

Make UK welcomes more than 400 apprentices every year to its world-class TechnologyHub in Aston, Birmingham, from customers including Jaguar Land Rover, Severn Trent, Ishida and Ibstock.

Stephen Mitchell, director of apprentices and technical training at Make UK, says: “We know through our members that retaining young talent is just as much of a challenge as attracting them in the first place – and when a business has invested time and money in a young person, they want to see the long-term benefits, as well as helping the sector bridge the skills gap we currently face.”

Adam Tipper, managing director at Next Gen Makers, adds: “We are delighted to have an organisation like Make UK endorsing and partnering with the programme. As the leading national manufacturing representative body and a training facility, their insight and experience of apprenticeships is unparalleled and invaluable. Our first cohort of 20 manufacturers who’ve signed up to the Engineering Apprenticeships: Best Practice Programme met for the first time online last month, and we had very positive feedback from attendees – the future is bright.”

For more details regarding the Next Gen Makers Engineering Apprenticeships: Best Practice Programme, visit https://nextgenmakers.co.uk/best-practice-programme 

www.makeuk.org